Stillman completes sweep of Benedict

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Marquavius BurnettSpecial to the Tuscaloosa News

TUSCALOOSA | The Stillman College baseball team completed its three-game sweep of Benedict College with a 13-2 route on Saturday.With the win, the Tigers improved to 15-13 overall and 7-2 in the Southern Intercollegiat Athletic Conference, while Benedict falls to 17-6 and 8-4 in the SIAC.The Tigers used an 11-run first inning and tough defense to stifle Benedict.“That was a big shutdown inning for us,” Stillman coach Donny Crawford said. “Our guys hit the ball extremely well and never let up. We knew we were going to need some runs because we were unsure of who we were going to pitch. It’s a credit to our guys for doing what it took to get the win.”Dakota Todd earned the win for Stillman after 12⁄3 innings of work. Todd faced seven batters and had one strikeout. Christopher Lail took the loss for Benedict. Lail struggled on the mound, giving up eight runs with seven errors. Lail threw multiple wild pitches and hit two pitchers.The Tigers finished with 10 hits while holding Benedict to only four. Eight different Stillman players scored a run while six players were able to get hits off Benedict pitchers. “The key to this game is confidence and if you come in and learn and play with confidence, you can do anything,” Crawford said. “In the last five or six weeks, our guys have found a way to lose games.“Hopefully, this will give our guys confidence and will learn from this and understand that you can’t get complacent.”This win comes on the heels of a doubleheader Friday in which the Tigers blitzed Benedict 14-3 in game one and grinded out a 7-5 victory in game two. Despite the sweep, Crawford said he feels the team can play better.“We’re going to give the kids the day off (today) and get back after it on Monday,” Crawford said. “We had some success, but there are a lot of little things we need to work on. We have a lot of things that need to be fixed in a short amount of time. We got about three or four weeks left and hopefully we can turn it around.”The Tigers travel to Rome, Ga., to face Shorter College on Tuesday before returning home to battle North Alabama on Wednesday. First pitch for both contests is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.